Almost exactly a year after their amazing debut album, New York City hip-hop group Jungle Brothers returns with a second LP self-produced (as The JB's). The guests are A Tribe Called Quest, Monie Love, Vinia Mojica, Jungle D.J. Tohwa, KRS-One, Caron Wheeler, De La Soul and Queen Latifah.
The Jungle Brothers sophomore is one of the freshest albums of the year, for some strange reason not taken too seriously by fans. The group provides more afro-centric themes than the experimental debut, releasing intelligent and socio-conscious lyrics delivered with a simple, fun, smooth and easy-going rapping by Africa Baby Bam and Mike G, above a production among the best of the eighties.
Full of dope cuts, the album is among the most creative, energetic, coherent and solid of 1989, among the best efforts in the field of alternative rap, without giving up the conscious and danceable pieces: the album always offers varied themes and music and different, in particular from the musical point of view it's excellent and practically impeccable, thanks to its eclecticism. Aided by minimal, skeletal and crackling rhythms, and excellent bridges, it touches almost every genre sampling from funky, soul and African music giving life to melodic, light and bright sounds, without sacrificing house and jazz: it releases a driving, positive and enjoyable mood that makes it stand out in the middle of the scene for its innovative and influential nature, in retrospect, it's a real shame that the promising group hasn't fully exploited its full potential.
Particularly praised and appreciated by critics in retrospect, it achieved modest commercial success under Warner Bros. Records, despite numerous singles and a minor hit ("What 'U' Waitin' '4'?"), so the group subsequently took a long break from the circuit. 9/10.
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